7. Chapter 7

Marinette was awoken the next morning by the buzz of her cell phone.

Groaning out a stereotypical teenage objection, she nuzzled into the mattress, mind still blissfully floating in a semi-conscious state of restfulness. Based upon the amount of light filtering its way through her eyelids, Marinette guessed it was sometime around noon. A perfectly acceptable hour to remain asleep.

Just as she was about to drift back off, however, the annoying device vibrated again.

“mmmmmnnnnnn-ngh”, Marinette whined out, rolling over to grasp blindly at it. ‘What’s so important that it can’t wait a few more hours?” she thought sleepily, eyes squinting at the sudden brightness. The joints in her fingers popped pleasantly as she lazily dragged them across the screen, imputing her password to check Alya’s new message.

[ Guess who’s back in town?!  ]

Suddenly, she was wide awake.

 Marinette flopped back on to the bed with a soft shriek, hiking her comforter up to smother her flushing face as the events of last night began to replay themselves in her mind.

Her joy at seeing Chat again morphing into something entirely foreign as he stood before her, the usual playfulness rolling off of him in waves, despite his newly matured appearance.  The way he chased her, cornered her, and dragged her chin up to meet his intense gaze. The low growl of Chat’s voice as he stared her down…as he pulled her closer.

Each recollection brought a new and unexpected heat to boil in the pit of her stomach.  To her surprise, Marinette found it was the same feeling she got whenever she got a leg-up on him.

‘Bad choice of phrasing’ she chided herself, trying to find the proper words to describe the sensation.

It wasn’t just simply pride.

No, it was more akin to the rush Ladybug felt when free-falling through the air, only to swing away when her body was inches from hitting the ground.

It was the exhilarated panic of Adrien’s hand gripping Marinette’s shoulder mixed with the victorious flood of relief when she received an outstanding grade in class

It was the primal feeling of might that enveloped her every time she transformed, the satisfaction of snapping a cursed object in half after a long battle, and the high that came with knowing there was a pair of green eyes tracking her every movement.

‘Lust’ her downstairs head whispered.

‘No, Power’ rationality corrected.

“Alya!” Marinette squeaked, pulling herself both from her intrusive thoughts and the cocoon of blankets tangled around her bare limbs.

‘How in the world did Alya know Chat was back?”

Marinette stared, dumbfounded at the innocuous text, wracking her brain in order to decipher just how her obsessive best friend had managed to find out about Chat’s homecoming. After a moment, it hit her, and Marinette had to refrain from slapping herself. 

There in her mind’s eye was Ladybug and Chat Noir, teasing each other loudly throughout the streets of Paris. Their trademark costumes fully illuminated by the bright starlight as they stared each other down. The way he had pulled her into him….gloved hands grasping at her hips. The way they had embraced in full view of the street below.

‘She knows,’ Marinette though desperately, pitifully. ‘Somehow she had been out last night and she saw us. Maybe took pictures of us. She knows everything and she’s going to tell the whole world that Ladybug and Chat Noir are…”

She scrambled from the bed, fingers tanging themselves in her wild mane of bedraggled hair as Marinette began to pace. Before she had the chance to launch into a full blown panic however, Marinette’s phone alerted her to another message.

She dove towards the device, clutching it in shaking hands as she opened the text. Marinette deflated, eyes scanning their way down the screen as a relieved sigh worked its way from her throat.

[ Adrien’s plane landed late last night and Nino is PUMPED ]

Leave it to her to get worked up over nothing. Of course she wasn’t talking about Chat.

Marinette’s heart slowly returned to its regular timing as she opened the attachment on Alya’s message, only to double in tempo as she registered what she was seeing.

Before her was an image of Nino, his arm excitedly draped over the broad-shoulder boy beside him as the two posed for a selfie in what looked like an airport terminal.

Of course it wasn’t Nino’s goofy expression that had Marinette suddenly on the verge of total collapse.

Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. SHIT.

Without thinking, Marinette flung the phone across the room in panicked knee-jerk reaction. It landed with a dull thump before bouncing its way off of her chaise to clatter onto the floor. She squawked, immediately flying down the ladder after it.

Tikki took in the scene with confusion, eventually giggling as she watched Marinette dive to the ground and shimmy her way under the lounger.

“No wonder your parents refuse to buy you a new phone.” She tittered out, earning only a distracted wheeze from the girl below her

 Marinette examined the thankfully un-cracked screen before her, mustering up her grit before unlocking it. Keeping a solid grip on the device, Marinette navigated her way back to her inbox.

The image flashed its way across the screen once again, drawing all the air out of her lungs in the process.

Because looking back at her was none other than Adrien Goddamn Agreste.

His once-familiar face, the ideal cover-model of tween magazines everywhere, was gone.  Gone where the flushed, downy cheeks. Gone was the child-like wideness to his eyes, the thin curve of his neck, the small protrusion of his rounded chin. 

Yes, her childhood crush, Adrien Agreste, was gone it would seem… because the young man smiling brilliantly at the camera was nothing short of a bona-fide teen heartthrob.

Marinette started at the image, mouth agape, for no less than 15 minutes straight. Every time the screen would grow dim due to inactivity, her finger would poke forward of its own accord, bringing the picture back into stark clarity.

‘Well’, she thought dimly, eyes tracing the stunning profile before her ‘It was nice having at least one semi-coherent interaction with him before she passed the line into never being able to look Adrien in the eye again’.

Those stunning green eyes.

She vaguely registered 5 new message had announced themselves across the top of the screen in the time she had spent dazedly ogling her phone, and with a strength she didn’t know she possessed, Marinette reluctantly minimized the picture. Good thing she had already set it as her home screen background.

Marinette clicked over to the conversation thread titled “Bestie <3”, a little guilty she had yet to respond to her best friend despite the little “Seen 17 Minutes Ago.” message displayed under Alya’s first text of the morning. Below it was 5 more unviewed texts.

[ I know you must be sleeping so WAKE UP HO ]

[ Either that or ur dead on the floor from the pic… please try not to cry ]

[ I gotta hand it to the kid, puberty really hit him like a freight train tho ;) ]

[ Anyways, the boys want to meet up sometime today, tell me ur free ]

[ Mari???? ]

Marinette stared at the messages, unsure of how to respond. Did she want to see Adrien? Absolutely!

From a safe distance where he could neither see nor hear her. Deciding to take it slow, she tentatively typed out a text.

[ Sorry, I’m awake now! ]

Alya’s reply was instantaneous.

[ Right…. So you free today? ]

[We’re trying to get some plans going but its hard when you and Adrien don’t respond -_- ]

Marinette’s first instinct was to lie. Nobody would question her if she said she had duties at the bakery. Of course, knowing her friends, they would keep asking her to hang out every day for the next week, and there’s only so many excuses she could use before they got suspicious.

‘You’re being stupid’ she chided herself, still clutching her phone as she tried to steady her breathing. Marinette rolled out from under the dusty piece of furniture, pushing herself up to settle instead in the computer chair under her loft.

[ sorry sorry ]

She hesitated a moment before continuing.

[ yeah, im free today. Just let me know what you guys come up with and ill be there J ]

Easier said than done. She rolled idly around the room, kicking piles of fabric around and running over loose pieces of sketch paper. Summer was not a time for cleaning it seemed. Her phone chimed.

“Jeez, Alya was especially impatient today.” Marinette furrowed her brow, watching her screen light up with rapid fire texts.

 [ SHIT ]

[ GIRL ]

[ I THINK THERES AN ATTACK GOING ON RIGHT OUTSIDE OF THE OFFICE ]

[ WTF ]

Marinette’s eyes widened, finger’s fumbling to type out the string of questions she had. “Tikki!” She yelled, mind trying to keep up with Alya’s never ending messages as she began a one-handed climb up the ladder to her left.

[ Where are you?? Are you ok? ]

[ holy fuck ]

[ no, no its ok im fine ]

[ im still in the building ]

[ but I just saw chat noir LEAP BY THE WINDOW OMG ]

‘Oh great, looks like she was late to the party.’

[ stay inside ]

“Tikki, Spots On!”

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Ladybug reached the scene just in time to take a D to the face.

In fact, she just narrowly missed an extremely fast L before running right into a K, sprawling on to the ground as more and more flying letters zoomed around the business plaza. The swirling maelstrom of typeface rose up in heavy clouds, blotting out the sky like a plague of birds as they formed whole sentences and paragraphs.

Ladybug swung her yoyo in a wide arc around her, knocking letter from the air as she made her way towards the shrill voice booming its way from beside a fountain.

“How DARE you dictate what font I can and can’t use,” The typewriter-wielding akuma shouted, hands flying over the keys as whole alphabets sprung to life out of thin air. “I am HELVETICA!”

“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me!” Ladybug teased, coming to a stop behind what she assumed to be a very disgruntled, very possessed columnist. “Who cares this much about typeface?”

The Akuma turned towards her with a shriek, hurting sentences like spears to lodge themselves in the ground at Ladybug’s feet. “IT CHANGES THE OVERTONE OF THE DISCOURSE!” it wailed, willing more and more letter towards the newly arrived hero.

Ladybug flipped backwards, dancing through the literary hell storm as she formulated a plan. It was obvious her target was the large, antiquated typewriter… she just had to clear a path towards it. Of course, it was at that moment her partner decided to make an appearance, shooting down from a window to perch himself on a lamppost at the opposite end of the courtyard.

“I don’t know, I’m more of a comic sans guy myself!” He taunted, effectively drawing the Akuma’s attention away from Ladybug. ‘Good Cat.’

Springing into action the moment the monster was diverted, Ladybug sprinted towards the fountain, swatting letters left and right. Her feet pounded the concreate walkway, driving her closer to her target. Meanwhile, Chat was leaping from one floating paragraph to another, waving his arms wildly as he explained the appeal of Calibri to the screaming Akuma.

Lady dove forward, aiming to wrench the accursed object away when a string of text wrapped around her ankle, effectively flinging her face-first into lukewarm fountain water.

She came up sputtering, spitting out a few pennies as she heard Chat’s insatiable laugher from somewhere across the plaza get cut short by a surprised yelp. Seconds later, he landed with a splash next to her.  Chat resurfaced with a noise that sounded suspiciously like a hiss, shaking his damp hair out as he glared at the distant akuma.

Taking great care not to slip, Ladybug stepped from the fountain. Water dripped down her arm as she held a hand out to hoist her equally drenched partner from the low stone enclosure. She ignored the slight swoop of her belly as he rose up beside her.

“Hoo Boy, she should NOT have done that!” Chat announced, looking very much like the drowned cat he was as he planted his hand on his hips. Unable to stifle a chuckle, Ladybug pulled a quarter from beneath his collar, presenting it to him with a small “ta-da!”

He turned to her with a grin, expression slowly morphing as he took in her dripping wet appearance. Ladybug could almost see him going over the events of the night before in his mind. Eyes idly making their way down her body before…

She dashed off, weaving her way once again towards the villain as she shook the image of him from her thoughts. There were other things that needed to be done. More important things than ogling your partner.

At least that’s what she told herself.

Chat had caught up with her by the time they reached their foe, the Akuma launching words to shatter the widows of the publication building ahead of them. The heroes skidded to halt a few feet behind it’s back, silently weighing their options

“Distract it again,” Ladybug began, unwinding her yoyo, “I need some time.”

Chat nodded, grabbing a nearby O and allowing it to pull him towards the swirling mass of letters centered around the Akuma. As he zoomed towards the creature, he resumed his font-based trash talk, drawing it’s attention and buying Ladybug just enough time to conjure a lucky charm.

Very nearly falling over when a giant eraser plopped into her grasp.

‘Of course’

Within minutes she had closed the distance between her and the Akuma, clearing her path free of the pesky letters with large swipes of the pink tool. This time, the villain was too wrapped up in furiously explaining the difference between serif and bold to notice her approach. Ladybug snagged the typewriter, immediately slamming it into the ground as ivory keys popped in every direction.

With one last shriek, the akuma was surrounded in a murky, purple haze before emerging as a very confused graying man, lying dazedly among the no-longer-floating letters.

In her periphery, Ladybug saw Chat struggling to remain up right as the words beneath him began to crumble. Apparently the sentence he had been riding on had lost it’s lift, leaving him suspended for a few moments before plummeting to the ground with a yelp.

Too focused on cleansing the dark butterfly flittering its way out of the wreckage to be concerned for her partner’s well-being, she just rolled her eyes at his dramatics. He’d had higher falls.

“Bye little butterfly,” Ladybug crooned, tossing the cleansing artifact high above her. Wave of light shot out, effectively erasing (ha!) the piles of letters scattered around the plaza and restoring the shattered windows to their former state.

After the damage was repaired, Ladybug’s attention shifted to the gathered crowd of people who had turned out to watch yet another superhero beat-down. Police had already set up a do-not-cross line (hey, at least they were good for something) but Ladybug knew the importance of connecting with the people of Paris, so she made her way towards the perimeter. The crowd screamed it’s adoration, people cheering excitedly as Ladybug waved at them graciously.

 She acknowledged their shouts with a modest smile, stiffening just an inch when she saw Alya at the forefront of the throng, furiously snapping pictures.  It was at that moment Chat decided to join her, fangirls in the crowd going absolutely insane as he casually slung his arm around her shoulder.

“Pound it,” he said, not even trying to hide the pride in his voice as his head cocked in the direction of the pair’s adoring admirers.

Ladybug snickered. If she thought the screaming was loud before, it was nothing compared to the absolute roar that followed her dutifully pressing a fist into his waiting knuckles. She couldn’t be sure, but Marinette swore she heard Alya’s trademark whistle rise above the cheering.

At the sound of their synchronized beeps, however, the heroes sought their exit. Ladybug turned to Chat, inclining her a head in a gesture that clearly said “follow”. Anticipation bubbled in his chest.

Shooting the crowd one last salute, Ladybug zip lined her way up over the lip of the roof. Moments later, with a wink that elicited many a girlish squeal from the gathered masses, Chat made his departure, leaping his way from ledge to ledge, until he landed solidly atop the building.

Ladybug had made her way few blocks south (hyper-aware of the second shadow she had trailing behind her) before sliding down into a secluded balcony. Chat touched down moments after her.

It was a beautiful space. A short, wrought iron fence enclosed the modest area, the view leading out into a private lot dotted with small trees that bent in the afternoon breeze. But Marinette turned from the sight, leaning the small of her back against the railing with a sigh as she faced Chat.

Without the distraction of an Akuma, the air between them became heavy once again. His eyes met hers tentatively, an unexpressed hope nagging gently at the corner of his expression. She could tell they were both thinking about the same thing. Trying to process where exactly things stood between the two after the events of the previous night.

 Both of them attempted to break the silence at once.

“Sorry I-“

“We should-“

They flashed each other wistful grins, Chat gesturing grandly for her to speak first. Ladybug started again, ignoring the second waring of her miraculous.

“I just wanted to say I was sorry for being late.” She told him sincerely.

“Oh, it’s no problem. I had everything under control.” He waved his hand dismissively.

“No, it is a problem. I don’t like having to rely on…” Marinette caught Alya’s name on the tip of her tongue, swallowing it down before continuing. “…other people to know when my partner needs me.”

“Well now that you mention it… I did try contacting you through my communicator, but I guess it doesn’t really work unless we’re both suited up huh?” Chat looked at her lamely, shrugging his shoulders.

“Yeah, this clearly isn’t the best case scenario.” Ladybug huffed out, exasperated and a little ashamed she had nearly slept through an attack.  If she hadn’t shown up…

There had to be a better way.

“What if I just gave you my number?” she blurted suddenly, the idea leaving her mouth before she even had time to ponder if it was a good suggestion. Oops…

“Your…number?”

“As in, my phone number.”

She was met with a blank stare. She said her next words slowly.

“I’m talking about my personal, civilian cell phone, Chat.”  

His confused look morphed into understanding, before slowly being taken over by sheer glee. Ladybug watched with dread as he swallowed a smile. What had she just done?

“I mean, because, I have it with me nearly all the time. Of course not when I’m in costume, but that’s irrelevant because mostly I’m with you when I’m Ladybug so I don’t need to reach you-“

Yepp, she was definitely rambling at this point.

“- it would be good so we could connect with, or that is, talk? To each other. When we’re civilians…” Ladybug trailed off lamely, deciding to just tap out while she was ahead.

Since when had she stuttered around Chat Noir?

“Yeah, that’s a good idea.” He responded carefully, tone measured but victory written boldly across his features.  Ladybug had the sudden urge to dunk him back into the fountain.

“Alright, don’t get smug there, kitty.” She muttered, turning to rifle through a conveniently placed jar of writing utensils sitting atop a crate at the edge of the terrace. Uncapping a blue marker, she faced him, once again ignoring the falsely innocent look he threw her way.

“Cut me some slack, it’s not every day such a beautiful girl offers me her number.” This earned him a snort. “Let me revel in the victory a bit, hmm?”

“Whatever. Where do you want it?”

He could think of a few places…

Rolling her eyes at his shit-eating grin, Ladybug stood on her tiptoes to sweep back his wily bangs, hastily scrawling a series of numbers across his forehead before letting the hair slide back down to cover it.

“I’m sure I don’t have to tell you this, but that number is for emergencies only…”

Chat took a deep breath, mouth stretching comically wide before she steamrolled past him.

“And before you inevitably say some dumbass comment about what constitutes an emergency I’d like to clarify by saying AKUMA INCEDENTS ONLY!”

“Of course, of course.” Chat said with a laugh. “This is strictly business.”

His tone still worried her.

“I’m serious Chat…” Ladybug trailed off with a challenging stare, the beeping of her miraculous prompting her to grasp at her yo-yo before shaking a finger at his face.

Chat had the decency to look thoroughly warned, although he grinned as he promised to message her as soon as he could. So she would have his number, of course.  

The pair shot off into opposite directions, just managing to slip out of sight before their transformations melted around them.

Marinette vaguely heard the sound of distant whooping.

Oh God, what had she done?

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She returned home to find 13 new messages lighting up the notification on her phone.

12 were from Alya, an excited play-by-play of the day’s events complete with pictures.

The last was from an unknown number. A single message containing nothing more than a winking cat emoji.